Jacob holds a PhD in Network Security, MSc in Cyber Security and a BSc 1st class (honours) in Computer Science. As part of his academic career he has published a number of papers focusing on utilising future network technologies to keep data safe from malicious actors.

Jacob has also had great success in Capture the Flag competitions (exploiting network/system vulnerabilities in a competitive format), independently, as part of a university team at a national level, and internationally as part of the Irish national team.